Rights and Responsibilities
Hugh D. Hindman explains in his book, Child Labor: An American History, about the Declaration of Dependence, written by Alexander J. McKelway. "Alexander J. McKelway's Declaration of Dependence very nicely summarizes the nature of the appeal the child labor reform movement attempted to convey to the public. In many respects, the sentiments expressed speak for themselves. But two points are worth considering here. First, this was not a declaration that could have been written by the children themselves. It was necessary that someone like McKelway write it on their behalf. Even assuming working children could acquire the literary skills to compose such elegant prose, they could not have written it. By virtue of their very helplessness and dependence, the children themselves were incapable of resorting effectively to self-help, either individually or collectively. If adults might be justifiably left to fend for themselves, individually and collectively, in a free labor market, no similar justification could be advanced on behalf of the children....Someone had to speak for the children. Second, McKelway's 'Declaration of Dependence' was a twentieth-century assertion of the rights of children....The child labor problem was not understood, from our colonial period through the Civil War, in the same way that McKelway and the early twentieth-century reformers understood it."
Children were restricted from their rights, and it became the government's responsibility to create laws to protect children from merciless working conditions that America had been creating.
Natural rights are given to each individual the day they are born, creating a sense of "personhood". They have rights to, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as written in the Constitution. All people have the right to a sense of personal security to life: the right to not be killed and the right to not be injured or abused. These rights were being violated because children were dying under the working conditions, were being abused and injured daily, and did not have a sense of security.
It also became the adult's responsibility to stand up for the children. According to the Constitution, you have the right to peacefully assemble, and that is what many adults and reformers did. However, on occasion, it did turn from peaceful to violent.
The federal government had to take responsibility for such awful history, and create a law that protected the children's rights, following what was written in the Constitution.
Children were restricted from their rights, and it became the government's responsibility to create laws to protect children from merciless working conditions that America had been creating.
Natural rights are given to each individual the day they are born, creating a sense of "personhood". They have rights to, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as written in the Constitution. All people have the right to a sense of personal security to life: the right to not be killed and the right to not be injured or abused. These rights were being violated because children were dying under the working conditions, were being abused and injured daily, and did not have a sense of security.
It also became the adult's responsibility to stand up for the children. According to the Constitution, you have the right to peacefully assemble, and that is what many adults and reformers did. However, on occasion, it did turn from peaceful to violent.
The federal government had to take responsibility for such awful history, and create a law that protected the children's rights, following what was written in the Constitution.